1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable apparatus having IC card function, a storage medium that stores a program for controlling the enabling and disabling of the IC card function in the portable apparatus when executed in the portable apparatus, and a method of controlling the locking and unlocking of the IC card function in the portable apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, IC cards having IC chips embedded therein are widely used. When brought close to a device capable of performing short-distance radio communications, an IC card performs predetermined processing such as billing etc. between the device and the IC chip embedded in the IC card. Lately, portable terminals such as portable telephones having IC card function are also available.
As the IC cards are becoming popular, the security problem of how to prevent IC card fraud has arisen.
For the purpose of improving the security of IC card, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-311223 proposes an IC card that is enabled only for a predetermined period of time from the initial use date and disabled after that period. Also, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-208585 proposes a technique that enables processing using an IC card only for a predetermined time after the IC card is inserted into an IC card reader/writer and authenticated.
Also, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-184055 proposes a technique that relates to the answering function of a portable telephone and switches the answering function between an enabled state and a disabled state according to a time schedule.
Also, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-99603 proposes a technique for providing a time frame during which an IC card becomes effective.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-311223 enables the IC card for only one period of time lasting for a predetermined number of days from the initial use date. During this period of time, security is not established. If this period of time is reduced to improve the security, the IC card will be available only for a short period of time, which is inconvenient for a user.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-208585 is based on the premise that the IC card is inserted into the IC card reader/writer. Therefore, this technique is not applicable to an IC card function incorporated in a portable terminal.
It is conceivable to lock/unlock the IC card function in a time schedule by employing the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-184055 or to set up a time frame where the IC card function becomes effective like the time frame disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-99603. However, providing either one of these techniques alone is not safe enough because the lock might be released when a user is unaware of or forgets such a time schedule or time frame.
Under such circumstances, the present invention provides a portable apparatus having IC card function, a storage medium that stores a program for controlling the enabling and disabling of the IC card function in the portable apparatus when executed in the portable apparatus, and a method of controlling the locking and unlocking of the IC card function in the portable apparatus, in all which the security of the IC card function has been improved.